Tuesday, September 18, 2007
pulse emitter
progression to desolation 12"
[2007, black horizons]
sometimes, due to more extravagantly titled albums, i'll fail to recognize those names which are legitimately indicative of how the albums sound. case in point, progression to desolation by portland, oregon's daryl groetsch. had i taken the title for face value, i'd have a fairly good idea of where the music on this lp was heading. instead, i was surprised, and, really fucking impressed. if you heard the creeping obesity 3" cd put out on chondritic sound this year, you'll have a vague familiarity with this release as well.
side a starts off with a creeping minimal soundscape. it's very brooding synth work and i love it. there's a slight touch of envenomist at play here. while the tone will be maintained throughout (the echoing of it was a great supplement), pulse emitter will slowly begin to add onto it, first with a main layer of sputtering noise and then with some sustained high-pitched tones. initially, that last element will seem more like a way to fill out the sound a bit, but due to their repetitious usage, and the sequence of the tones, they'll muster up a good deal of musicality. once groetsch moves away from that, he'll get into even more catchy tone work from the syn
thesizer. the sound that he transitions into is drastically different with deeper notes as opposed to the shriller ones, but it's just as memorable. the last couple of minutes will introduce some noisier elements, at last, beginning with a small portion of static before testing our hearing with a very piercing emission. perfect.
the first five minutes of the second side sees me using an adjective that i didn't think i would ever apply to pulse emitter's music: beautiful. there's just such serenity in this music, i was really awed by it, but we all know that beauty is for sissies, so it gets mauled by a layer of dense, rolling distortion. yeah! fuck it up. that's pretty short-lived though, and the track will transform into something resembling a synthetic thunderstorm. if you're imaginative enough, you can close your eyes and trick yourself into thinking that the crackle of vinyl is actually the sound of falling rain, thus completing the illusion. serving as the foundation for all of this, at this point, is a pulsing synth layer. appropriate, yes? the thunderous sounds also fall off rather quickly making for a subdued and, occasionally, droning conclusion.
the direction of pe's music isn't some grand departure, though, it might be one of the few times that you can actually call it music without that word merely being a substitute for "sounds that he made". you can pick pieces from different releases and recognize the elements, but it's the lack of the more jarring features that separates it from the pack. going back to obesity, sure there's a common thread in the overall feel, but the music on progression to desolation is a lot more dynamic, there are more parts that are instantly gratifying when you hear them and he doesn't altogether forgo discord. it all makes for an outstanding album.
Progression to Desolation Side A
[2007, black horizons]
sometimes, due to more extravagantly titled albums, i'll fail to recognize those names which are legitimately indicative of how the albums sound. case in point, progression to desolation by portland, oregon's daryl groetsch. had i taken the title for face value, i'd have a fairly good idea of where the music on this lp was heading. instead, i was surprised, and, really fucking impressed. if you heard the creeping obesity 3" cd put out on chondritic sound this year, you'll have a vague familiarity with this release as well.
side a starts off with a creeping minimal soundscape. it's very brooding synth work and i love it. there's a slight touch of envenomist at play here. while the tone will be maintained throughout (the echoing of it was a great supplement), pulse emitter will slowly begin to add onto it, first with a main layer of sputtering noise and then with some sustained high-pitched tones. initially, that last element will seem more like a way to fill out the sound a bit, but due to their repetitious usage, and the sequence of the tones, they'll muster up a good deal of musicality. once groetsch moves away from that, he'll get into even more catchy tone work from the syn
thesizer. the sound that he transitions into is drastically different with deeper notes as opposed to the shriller ones, but it's just as memorable. the last couple of minutes will introduce some noisier elements, at last, beginning with a small portion of static before testing our hearing with a very piercing emission. perfect.the first five minutes of the second side sees me using an adjective that i didn't think i would ever apply to pulse emitter's music: beautiful. there's just such serenity in this music, i was really awed by it, but we all know that beauty is for sissies, so it gets mauled by a layer of dense, rolling distortion. yeah! fuck it up. that's pretty short-lived though, and the track will transform into something resembling a synthetic thunderstorm. if you're imaginative enough, you can close your eyes and trick yourself into thinking that the crackle of vinyl is actually the sound of falling rain, thus completing the illusion. serving as the foundation for all of this, at this point, is a pulsing synth layer. appropriate, yes? the thunderous sounds also fall off rather quickly making for a subdued and, occasionally, droning conclusion.
the direction of pe's music isn't some grand departure, though, it might be one of the few times that you can actually call it music without that word merely being a substitute for "sounds that he made". you can pick pieces from different releases and recognize the elements, but it's the lack of the more jarring features that separates it from the pack. going back to obesity, sure there's a common thread in the overall feel, but the music on progression to desolation is a lot more dynamic, there are more parts that are instantly gratifying when you hear them and he doesn't altogether forgo discord. it all makes for an outstanding album.
Progression to Desolation Side A
:: posted by avant gardening, 10:30 AM